Jared Banner’s Orioles Role: Background and Player Development Priorities

FRONT OFFICE

Jared Banner brings experience across scouting, personnel and player development. The measure of his Orioles tenure will be how effectively those disciplines work together.

A new voice in baseball leadership

Jared Banner’s appointment adds a new voice to Baltimore’s baseball leadership. Mike Elias remains president of baseball operations, making the division of responsibility more useful to understand than the general manager title alone.

The opportunity is organizational. A front office influences the major league club through more than trades and signings. Coaching decisions, performance work and the way information reaches a player can shape results long before a transaction becomes public.

The career behind the appointment

A Brooklyn native and former Amherst outfielder, Banner built his professional career through Boston, the Mets and the Cubs. His background spans player personnel, scouting and player development.

Those disciplines ask related questions. Scouting identifies what a player could become. Development works to help him get there. Personnel decisions determine how that potential fits alongside other options. An organization benefits when those judgments inform one another.

Make the plan clear to the player

A useful development plan gives a player a manageable priority, a reason for working on it and a way to assess progress. The same message should survive a promotion or a change of instructor.

These are standards for evaluating the work ahead, rather than claims about private changes Banner has already made. Fans may not see the discussions inside a department, but repeatable improvement eventually has to show up on the field.

Development must complement acquisitions

Stronger instruction should help Baltimore make more of the talent it already has. It should also improve the club’s understanding of which needs require outside help.

A belief in internal progress carries a cost when it leaves a roster hole unfilled. The Orioles need to develop players and acquire talent at the same time. Banner’s biography explains why his arrival is interesting. The quality of the decisions, and their effect on the major league team, will determine how successful it becomes.

Sources

• masnsports.com — orioles hire jared banner as general manager
• chicagocrusader.com — cubs promote jared banner to assistant general manager
• thebanner.com — orioles general manager jared banner cubs PMZE3VCXDZCXPFWH3NZWJC6J44
• thebanner.com — orioles jared banner press conference EMTYBFCXFRBBRL72WCVURFYHLA

Trevor Rogers pitching for Miami, April 8, 2023. Archival illustration of pitching development; Jared Banner is not pictured. Photo: D. Benjamin Miller · Source · CC0.

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